By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
JONESBORO -- The Forrest City defense played as well as they could play Friday against Jonesboro -- considering the fact that the unit had no help from the offense.
In a game that many expected to be a AAAAA-East defensive battle, the Hurricane quickly turned into a 35-0 rout over the Mustangs at Cooksey-Johns Field.
Jonesboro's defense, ranked first in the league in allowing fewest points this season, came through again and got the job done against a Mustang offensive unit that fumbled the ball nine times.
Jonesboro won its fourth straight game to open the season at 4-0. The last time Jonesboro did that was way back in 1982.
The Hurricane defense shut out an opponent for the second time this season and The Mustangs failed to score for the first time this season -- the third time in Forrest City's last 14 games that the team has not scored.
Jonesboro allowed just 130 yards total offense, while finishing with 248 total yards -- 173 of that on the ground.
After a close first half, which saw Forrest City down by only 7-0 at the half, the Mustangs did not make a first down in the entire second half and managed just 36 yards in the final two quarters of play.
Forrest City slips to 2-2 for the year and 0-1 in the conference.
The game, for Forrest City, was a complete reverse of last year's matchup at Sam Smith Stadium when Jonesboro lost six fumbles in a 21-20 Mustang victory.
Friday night, it was Jonesboro who was the benefactor of mistake-prone Mustangs.
Of the nine Forrest City fumbles, the team lost three.
"We were fortunate to be down by just seven points at the half," said Forrest City Coach Donnie Willis.
Forrest City fumbled twice on its first two possessions and the Hurricane finally turned the gifts into points when defensive end Adam Brasfield scooped up a loose football at the Mustang five-yard line and took it into the end zone for a 7-0 lead with 5:12 remaining in the first quarter.
Willis said his Mustangs started off on the wrong foot and kept making mistakes.
"The bottom line was we didn't even give ourselves a chance to do anything," Willis said. "From the start we fumbled the ball all over the field due to a lack of concentration on our part. We just didn't take care of the ball. And, when you're playing a good team like Jonesboro you just can't make those mistakes and expect anything good to happen."
Despite the fumbles, Forrest City did move the football in the first half -- outgaining Jonesboro on the ground 108-to-50 by the half.
The Mustangs had a chance to tie the game after driving to the Jonesboro 11 and facing a fourth-and-9. Quarterback Kenyaeta Chism ran a bootleg that caught the Hurricane defense off guard. Chism was headed to the end zone when Jonesboro cornerback Jimmy Tollison closed and Chism stopped so hard to make a cut that the football popped loose and he had to fall on it.
"That fumble really hurt us," Willis said. "We were a little deflated after that one."
The Hurricane opened the second half with a nine-play, 81-yard drive for a score to take control of the game 14-0 with 7:12 to go in the third quarter.
Jonesboro's defense put the clamps down on Forrest City on the next series, holding the Mustangs on three downs and pushing them back to their own 4.
Forrest City punter Jeremy Holmes was then forced to run from his own end zone and only made it to the eight-yard line as Jonesboro's defense continued to apply pressure.
Harris, who led Jonesboro with 57 yards on nine carries, scored the first of his two touchdowns on an option keeper to the left from the 3 following the Hurricane's defensive stand. Miller's point-after kick pushed the margin to 21-0 with 2:45 to go.
Harris added another touchdown on a similar carry to his right from the 6-yard line to give Jonesboro a 28-0 lead with 7:01 to play.
Jonesboro's TaDarelle Calloway scored the final touchdown of the night as he took the ball on fourth down from the 7 and exploded through a big hole into the end zone with 1:21 to go in the game.
Forrest City, on the other hand, never moved the ball beyond its own 33 the entire second half. After winning their last two games by a combined score of 55-7, it was a humbling defeat for the Mustangs.
"We can play better than we played. I know we can," Willis said. "But the Jonesboro kids played hard and they played smart. We didn't play hard and we didn't play smart."
The Mustangs will host conference newcomer Searcy Friday at Sam Smith.
Searcy lost to Cabot 21-14 Friday night in the team's first-ever AAAAA-East game.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
PALESTINE -- When Palestine-Wheatley Coach Terry Farmer was ejected from the game early in the second quarter, the Patriots woke up.
Farmer's ejection came with his Patriots trailing Rector 13-7 in a 3AA Conference game at Patriot Field.
The Patriots scored the next 34 unanswered points to take a 41-13 win -- their first of the season against three consecutive losses.
P-W junior running back Elisha Duncan ran wild, finishing with 285 yards on nine carries and scoring twice.
But Duncan wasn't alone.
Sophomore Rashun Barnes had 87 yards on five carries and scored a touchdown while senior Quenton Mason added 81 yards on six carries and a touchdown and sophomore Antonio Leak ran for a touchdown and finished with 49 yards on four carries.
The Patriots had a total of 526 yards of offense against Rector -- 504 of that on the ground.
Rector scored first with 9:02 to play in the opening quarter when Derek Carter ran for an eight-yard score. The kick made it 7-0.
Barnes tied the game at 7-7 when he broke loose for a 46-yard touchdown run with 6:04 to play.
A P-W fumble led to Rector's second touchdown, with 18 seconds to play in the first quarter when Aaron Parsley scored from a yard out. The kick failed leaving Rector in front 13-7.
The next sequence was as odd as anything the Patriots have seen this season.
Barnes' 24-yard touchdown run early in the second period was called back after P-W was flagged for holding.
Two plays later, Mason's 25-yard TD run was called back -- once again on a holding call.
Then Rector was hit with a dead ball personal foul call which angered Farmer, who vented his frustration with the nearest sideline official, who quickly ran to midfield, returning to the P-W sideline with the head umpire.
After several minutes of heated conversation between the official and Farmer, the P-W head coach was ejected and the Patriots were assessed a personal foul.
Two plays later, Mason ran 14 yards for the tying score.
It was all Palestine-Wheatley after that.
Duncan put the Patriots in front 19-13 with 6:07 to play in the first half when he ran 64 yards for his first TD.
On Rector's mext possession, Joe Hooker recorded a solo sack, Marcus Pendleton made a tackle behind the line of scrimmage and Jonathan Wheeler blocked Rector's fourth down punt which was recovered by Brad Barton at the Rector one.
Barnes did the rest and Wheeler added the two-point play as the Pats took a 27-13 lead into the half.
Duncan opened the second half with a 50-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage which put the Pats on top 33-13.
Leak put up P-W's final points when he scored from four yards out with 51 seconds to play in the game and then added the two-point run.
The Patriots improve to 1-3 for the year and 1-2 in the conference and will host Walnut Ridge Friday.
In pregame ceremonies Friday, the school retired the No. 64 jersey worn by Patriot nose tackle Kenneth Long. Long, who have been a senior this season, was killed in June in a car accident.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
HUGHES -- It was nice winning streak while it lasted.
Cross County, after more than four seasons without a victory, opened the 2002 season with three straight victories and were flying high as they headed into Blue Devil Stadium Friday.
It didn't take long for Hughes to ground the Thunderbirds, handing the visitors their first loss of the season Friday night, running past the Thunderbirds for a 35-0 win in 3AA Conference play.
Cross County slips to 3-1 and 2-1 in the 3AA conference.
Hughes moves to 3-1 overall and 3-0 in the league and into a tie with Marked Tree for first place.
The Blue Devils totalled 413 yards of total offense -- all on the ground, even though they had their share of problems.
"The grass was wet and we had a little trouble holding onto the ball," said Hughes Coach James Wright. "But they came through like they were supposed to. We're all right. We've been to war. We are used to playing teams like Dollarway and Dumas.We may not win the game, but we are not going to back off from anybody."
Hughes dropped down into Class AA this season after four years playing at the Class AAA level.
Jermaine Davis broke the 100-yard rushing mark for Hughes, which included a 63-yard touchdown run that was his second on the night. Ayodele Ogunsakin had eight carries for 87 yards and Andrew Walker had 13 carries for 73 yards and a touchdown.
Cross County was continually turned back by the Blue Devils' defense, which limited the Thunderbirds to 171 yards of total offense.
Cross County took the opening kick-off, but fumbled on the first play from scrimmage and Hughes recovered at the T-Bird 25-yard line.
Five plays later, Jamal Tiggs capped the short drive with a two-yard run and Brian Hillis added the point after kick for a 7-0 Hughes lead with 10:28 remaining in the first quarter.
Late in the second quarter, Hughes went 78 yards in six plays using a little luck. Davis took the hand-off from eight yards out, bulled his way through the line for seven yards, but was hit at the 1-yard line and fumbled in the endzone. Teammate Eugene Gilleyen covered the ball for the touchdown. Hillis kicked the point after to extend the lead to 14-0 with 3:02 left in the second quarter.
Hughes drove 62 yards in seven plays in the third and scored on a 25-yard run by Davis with 9:39 left.
Cross County drove to the Hughes' 7-yard line, but turned the ball over on downs.
The Blue Devils struck quickly. Davis broke outside for the touchdown and Hillis' kick made the score 28-0 with 10:56 left in the game.
Hughes scoring again when Johnny Payton went in from 11-yards out.